This morning, as I was perusing the news, I came across this headline:

Trump’s FCC chair wants American media to work like Iran’s state TV (The Guardian)

Sure, it’s an opinion piece. If you want a more neutral covering of the story:

Trump and his officials pressure the news media in unison as Iran war scrutiny intensifies (CNN)

Even stated in a neutral way, it sounds bad, doesn’t it?

Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt published an article about fascism in the spring of 2003 entitled Fascism, Anyone? He had been studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), and noticed that they all shared 14 characteristics. Today, I want to talk about point 6:

Controlled Mass Media- Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common. (From https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html, emphasis is mine)

This certainly isn’t the first time Trump has attacked the Free Press, and I’m sure it won’t be the last time. But it is a further indication that our slide into fascism isn’t being challenged by the checks and balances that are supposed to stop us from descending into tyranny. Congress refuses to step up and hold the President accountable for his illegal actions, and the lower courts are being blocked at almost every turn by the higher courts that’s in the President’s pocket. Our only hope to avoid slipping into full fledged fascism (if we aren’t already there!) is to give both houses of Congress to the Democrats and pray that they have the spine to be the check on the Trump presidency that the constitution calls them to be.

Until next time, keep resisting!